Sanhedrin 21a

סנהדרין כ״א ע״א

Learn Sanhedrin 21a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

The king's share of spoils, the limit on a king's wives (eighteen and its source), and aggadot about דוד's family and the story of אמנון and תמר

Overview

The amud opens by finishing the rule of the king's share of war spoils. Just as צדוק the כהן גדול takes half of the לחם הפנים and the other כהנים share the other half, the king takes half the spoils and his soldiers share the rest. A new משנה then teaches that a king may not marry too many wives. The תנא קמא sets the limit at eighteen. רבי יהודה allows more if they do not turn his heart away. רבי שמעון forbids even one wife who turns his heart, and limits the number even for righteous wives like אביגיל. The גמרא resolves an apparent contradiction with these תנאים' views on using the reason behind a verse (טעמא דקרא). It then derives eighteen from דוד's six wives in חברון and the נביא's words 'כהנה וכהנה', and notes ברייתות that count 24 or 48. Next it defends the count of six by showing that עגלה is מיכל, and it defines wives and concubines. The amud closes with aggadic teachings about דוד's children and the story of אמנון and תמר, ending with a decree whose content continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (45)

1. ProofThe king splits the spoils like the כהן גדול splits the bread
2. QuestionWhere do we learn that צדוק takes half?
3. Responseרבי learns it from 'for אהרן and his sons'
4. StatementNew משנה: a king may marry no more than eighteen wives
5. Statementרבי יהודה: more is allowed if they don't turn his heart
6. Statementרבי שמעון: not even one wife who turns his heart
7. QuestionThen why does the verse say 'not many wives'?
8. ResponseEven wives as righteous as אביגיל
9. ChallengeDon't these two תנאים usually hold the opposite?
10. ProofThe widow's pledge: the opposite pattern
11. ResponseExplaining רבי שמעון's words
12. ProofSo who uses the Torah's reason?
13. ResolutionDefending רבי יהודה: here the Torah states the reason
14. ResolutionDefending רבי שמעון: the stated reason must teach something extra
15. QuestionWhere does the number eighteen come from?
16. ResponseSix wives in חברון, plus six and six more
17. Challengeרבינא: maybe the words double the total each time
18. ProofA ברייתא supports twenty-four
19. StatementLearning from the letter ו gives forty-eight
20. ProofA ברייתא supports forty-eight
21. QuestionWhat is our משנה's reason for eighteen?
22. ResponseThe second 'like these' equals the first: six
23. ChallengeBut מיכל was also his wife
24. Resolutionעגלה is really מיכל
25. ChallengeBut מיכל never had children
26. ResolutionShe had a child on the day she died
27. ChallengeThe children were born in חברון, but the incident was later in ירושלים
28. ResolutionBefore the incident she had a child, after it none
29. ChallengeA verse says דוד took more wives in ירושלים
30. ResolutionThe extra wives only completed eighteen
31. QuestionWhat is the difference between wives and concubines
32. ResponseWives have כתובה and קידושין, concubines do not
33. Statementדוד's four hundred children of יפת תואר mothers
34. Statementתמר was the daughter of a יפת תואר
35. ProofWhy the verse proves תמר's lineage
36. Statementיונדב was wise for evil
37. Statementיונדב's plan and the food תמר prepared
38. QuestionWhy did אמנון hate תמר so much?
39. Responseרבי יצחק: a hair injured אמנון
40. ChallengeIf it was an accident, why blame her?
41. ResolutionCorrected wording: תמר tied the hair on purpose
42. Challengeרבא's teaching: Jewish women lack such hair
43. Resolutionתמר was different: daughter of a יפת תואר
44. Statementתמר's public mourning built a great fence
45. Statementרב: at that time a decree was made